The invention relates to transport apparatus for heavy open-cast working gear, which apparatus travels by means of caterpillar carriages. The carriages, in the form of twin caterpillars, are attached to the corners of a supporting frame formed as a horizontal isosceles triangle.
Open-cast working gear of this kind has been known for a long time. It may, for example, consist of excavators, rock crushers, or other similar heavy equipment. In recent years, there has been an increase in equipment which facilitates mixed continuous and discontinuous open-cast operation. To this end, equipment is used which is installed in stationary fashion. However, after a certain period of operation, it may be moved to other sites. In this connection, it has become known, for example, to provide rock crushers for reducing coarse rock with carriages, in order to transport these crushers or breakers, if required, to a location from where it is easy to remove the crushed rock, such as by means of a conveyor belt.
It is very involved to provide heavy working gear which is only rarely moved from one site to another, but which must be designed in a transportable fashion, with carriages which will then not be used for prolonged periods of time. Since the open-cast equipment mentioned consists of extremely heavy units of very large dimensions, the construction of the carriages must, accordingly, be stable. The expensive carriages, which are not being used, represent substantially under-utilized capital, to the extent where it is often considered advantageous to forego providing mobility for the equipment.
The present invention provides, by contrast, transport apparatus for heavy open-cast working gear, which counteracts the disadvantages mentioned, by retaining the mobility of the equipment, while considerably increasing the economic advantages of the carriages. This is achieved by the following characteristics of the invention:
(a) the caterpillar carriages are attached to the supporting frame by means of a clutch, so as to connect and disconnect them; PA1 (b) the caterpillar carriages travel independently; and PA1 (c) the supporting frame is provided with bases to support the open-cast apparatus on the level plane or ground.
This arrangement provides a mobile system where the actual caterpillar carriages are each placed under the equipment for purposes of transporting it, while in the quiescent state, the equipment rests on the supporting bases especially provided for this purpose. The independently movable carriages may, after depositing the equipment, find further use at the location for moving other equipment. In this way, it is possible to transport several pieces of equipment, successively, by means of the same carriages, and the carriages may be used individually in different ways.
Another feature of the invention is that the supporting bases, mentioned above, are attached to corner points of a horizontal isosceles triangle forming part of the supporting frame of the apparatus, and positioned about 180.degree. relative to the triangular supporting frame used for the caterpillar carriages. Thus, the torsional axis runs approximately through the center of gravity of both triangles. This makes for a very stable and solid system, because the supporting plane has the same proportions or ratios for the support of the equipment on the caterpillar carriages, as for the support on the supporting bases.
Another feature of the invention is that the caterpillar carriages are coupled to each other electrically and/or hydraulically, and centrally controlled by means of a program. The independently traveling caterpillar carriages represent, in themselves, individual vehicles which are only coupled at the site of operation under the open-cast working equipment to be transported to make up one vehicle for combined action. All carriages are then controlled centrally from one location, such as from one caterpillar carriage via a program, giving the required signals to ensure synchronism.
Furthermore, provision is made for the supporting bases to be height adjustable and spatially flexible to each other in their arrangement on the supporting frame of the open-cast working equipment. By adjusting the supporting bases, differences in the ground level may be compensated for facilitating perpendicular installation of the open-cast working equipment. Simultaneously, the equipment may be installed at such a level by means of the adjustable supporting bases that the caterpillar carriages may be brought under their coupling points of the supporting frame.
Another feature of the invention is that the connections of the caterpillar carriages with the corner points of the triangular supporting frame are horizontally flexible and adjustable in height. By lowering or raising part of the connection between caterpillar carriage and the supporting frame, it may be raised or lowered versus the caterpillar carriage, so that the necessary space between the ground and the supporting frame may be created, which makes it possible to move the caterpillar carriages under the supporting frame and to remove them after lowering the supports.
The adjustability in height is made possible, according to another feature, by providing centrally on the frame of each twin caterpillar, one vertically movable piston-cylinder unit, with the upper end thereof formed as part of a ball-and-socket joint, while the other end is arranged on one of the corner points of the supporting frame. Needless to say, the supporting frame corner points of other open-cast working gear are similarly formed if it is intended to couple the caterpillar carriages selectively to different kinds of equipment.
Also, the invention provides that at least one of the caterpillar carriages is connected to the frame non-rotatably in the traveling plane. In this case, two caterpillar carriages are provided to steer the equipment. The third caterpillar carriage is connected non-rotatably with the carriage, however, allowing for rocking movement in order to balance irregularities in the ground. It is also conceivable to arrange two caterpillar carriages non-rotatably and parallel to each other. The steering in this case takes place by means of the third carriage, whose connection with the supporting frame allows for rotary movement.
Steering of the open-cast working gear, when being moved, can take place by utilizing the differential speed of the chains on either side. However, according to another feature of the invention, the steering of the open-cast working gear, when being moved, may be by means of length-adjustable tie rods arranged between the carriage frames and the carriage. These tie rods may consist of piston-cylinder units or spindles or shafts, making it possible to rotate the caterpillar carriages relative to the frame.
In order to reduce the considerable lateral forces occurring in the steering of the open-cast working gear around a non-rotatably mounted caterpillar carriage, another detail of the invention provides that the hinge point of the caterpillar carriages to the supporting frame is coordinated with a detector means for the lateral forces with which the gears of the caterpillar carriages may be actuated in the sense of a reduction of the lateral forces. These means may consist of measuring devices for sensing bending forces in the supporting frame, by means of which a signal is given to the carriage gears for countercontrol of the bending forces.
Another feature of the invention is to have two of the hinges of the caterpillar carriages to the supporting frame limited to the horizontal plane, and universally displaceable in order to eliminate lateral constraining forces on the carriage when moving the equipment. The displacement plane is coordinated with detectors, which signal before reaching the limits to correct the carriage. This proposal safely avoids constraining forces in the system, as these are eliminated within the displacement path of the hinge points. If the displacement path is insufficient to eliminate the constraining forces, corrective signals are given to the carriages before the end of the displacement path to steer them so that the constraining forces are counteracted even before they occur.
The transport apparatus of the invention allows for mobility of heavy open-cast working gear without incurring considerable investment cost, which might only be utilized at great intervals. The invention is particularly justified where a multitude of heavy equipment is to be moved from time to time, while it is stationary the rest of the time. The only extra expenditure versus purely stationary equipment is that the equipment to be transported must have raising means for receiving the caterpillar carriages, so that the latter may be connected and coupled to one another.
An example of the invention is shown in the drawings, and explained as follows: